Zweifarbig per Aktion

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Hallo zusammen!
Wir suchen eine Möglichkeit, ca. 2000 Skizzen über Aktionen in S/W umzuwandeln. Die Funktion "Zweifarbig" kann ich über den Menübefehl zwar automatisch ansteuern, aber er schreibt die weiteren Einstellungen dann ja nicht mit...
Nur ein Graustufen-Profil reicht leider nicht, ich muss wirklich alle neu einfärben und in 0% Weiß und 100% Schwarz "glatt" ziehen.
Vielen Dank für eure Mühe!

[Kurt Gold]

There may be different ways, but it's required to know the rules that determine which objects are going to be filled with black and which ones with white.

Can you elaborate and provide a couple of sample Illustrator files?

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Thank you for the quick answer. The separation should be done by a threshold value or similar. It concerns line drawings which are made with black values of 80 - 99%. These should then all be converted to 100% black.

[Kurt Gold]

It would still be helpful if you could provide some Illustrator sample files for inspection.

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Does the sample file help? It would be great if there actually was a solution!

[Kurt Gold]

Your sample files are in RGB mode, so I assume that you want to convert them to CMYK as well.

This simple action should work:

Strokes 100 k

Instruction:

- Download and unzip the file.
- In the Actions palette, import the action set strokes_100_k.aia
- Open a document.
- Run the action.

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Great. Such a simple approach. Perfect. Thank you!!!

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Now I have noticed something. If lines without contour strength are included, they are automatically drawn and created via this path WITH a "default" contour.... Do you have a solution for this as well? 🙂

[Kurt Gold]

You mean paths with no stroke attributes at all [none]?

I don't see that behaviour at the moment. Can you provide a sample Illustrator file, so one may take a look at it?

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Yes, you are right. That is not the problem. I have to look more closely to discover that in the drawings there are lines with a WHITE outline, which are actually not visible or necessary. Hm...

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Here is a new example...

[Kurt Gold]

Do you need the white filled or stroked objects or could they just be deleted?

[HolzwurmTobsen]

They can be deleted. They can be deleted. Is there a way to delete them selectively?

[Kurt Gold]

Yes, at the beginning of the action you may incorporate a couple of steps that would select them with one of the Select menu > Same commands and then delete them.

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Have tried a lot. Unfortunately I can not get it to work. 😞

[Kurt Gold]

Well, then you may post your action to show your attempts so far.

Apart from that, you may provide at least 10 sample Illustrator files. Obviously, there may be many possible variations that can make it a bit difficult to create one instant action for all cases.

[HolzwurmTobsen]

The "Select same" in this example file already does not work, no matter with which settings and "ways"... 😕

[Kurt Gold]

Well, I was hoping you would post your entire action, not only a snippet that hardly will do anything.

Based on your last sample file, it is certainly possible to create an appropriate action, but obviously your files do vary. That's why I asked for at least 10 sample files, not just one. The reason is because often just one subtle difference or some unknown structure may cause any instant action to fail completely.

Automations are remarkable procedural methods, no matter if using scripts or bumpy actions. But they can also be pretty adventurous if there are varying source files. Imprudent automations may potentially destroy all kind of objects that are supposed to be preserved. Therefore it is obligatory to provide as much information and as many sample files as possible.

Probably more often than not I rather recommend to not rely on automated modifications in Illustrator, especially if it's rather difficult to define generally binding rules when trying to automate things with actions executed as a Batch process with a lot of files.

[HolzwurmTobsen]

Thank you very much for your effort. Unfortunately, I can't provide any more sample files due to lack of copyright.

But the sample action should do exactly as described - select and delete, right? But I already can't get this approach to work....

[Kurt Gold · Accepted solution]

Quite, but often some more steps are required.

Based on your sample Source delete_same.pdf you can try this modified action:

Strokes 100 k and clean up

Instruction:

- Download and unzip the file.
- In the Actions palette, import the action set strokes_100_k_2.aia
- Open the sample file Source delete_same.pdf
- Run the action.

Note that it will also delete clipping paths.